Roger Federer

Federer, Roger, 1981–, Swiss tennis player, b. Basel. He was an outstanding junior player, ranking number one in 1998, the year he turned pro. Federer won his first Association of Tennis Professionals tournament in 2001 at Milan, and scored his first major victory in 2003 at Wimbledon. Playing with a combination of intelligence, strength, and finesse, he has a powerful forehand, a mighty single-handed backhand, and an explosive serve. Ranked number one in Feb., 2004, he won three of the four Grand Slam titles (Australian and U.S. opens and Wimbledon), 11 singles titles, and 74 of his 80 matches that year. He has since won Wimbledon (2005–7, 2009, 2012) and the U.S. (2005–8) and Australian (2006–7, 2010) opens several times and the French Open once (2009), setting a record (17) for Grand Slam victories by male tennis player, and by Aug., 2008, when he slipped out of first, had been ranked number one for 237 consecutive weeks, also a record. He surpassed Pete Sampras's career record of 286 weeks at number one in 2012.